This is a demonstration of a (possibly useless) tuning that I played around with for a bit, which I call 6-EDF (Six equal divisions of a fifth) or or 6-TET-3/2 (6 tone equal intonation, ratio 3/2) The main feature of the scale is perfectly tuned fifths. (3/2) (And consequently, no true octave interval exists) It could also be seen as 10-EDO scale with a compressed pseudo-octave with a ratio of about 1.966:1, which is the closest octave approximation that this tuning can offer. The semitone ratio is 1.5^(1/6) = 1.069913…

The sample consists of three parts.
1) Chords consisting of a base note and 4 consecutive fifths. The chord moves 1 semitone per step.
2) Arpeggio moving a semitone per step.
3) Chords consisting of a base note, its pseudo octave (10 semitones from the base note) and the pseudo octave’s perfect fifth (16 semitones from the base note)

Left channel plays a sawtooth wave, right channel plays a square wave. Everything generated with Reaktor.

hey there nitro. I like the overall sound of that tuning. you should absolutely utilize it in a song sometime. wish I could understand most of what you talked about here. maybe after a music theory 101 class I can come back to this and be like “oh I get it”.

Yeah, the tuning is nice - of course the ear loves the sound of the perfect 5th, but the out of tune octaves seem to actually give it an even more preferrable tone.

One a related note, I learned today that one of my favorite scales might have roots in the harmonic overtone series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_scale
I think using the exact overtone pitches instead of their tempered equivalents would yield some interesting results.

@ Reiyano: I was never taught this sort of stuff in music theory class, only sound engineering - I would have loved a music theory class where explored alternative tunings as well. @ nitro2k01: Well yeah fair enough - I think half the point of blogging is doing it when one is tired:) I was just double checking to make sure I was understanding everything.